


snowdrops

by thethrillof



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012), Secret of Kells (2009)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-29 06:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thethrillof/pseuds/thethrillof





	snowdrops

Jack chases the snowdrops that grow in the forest because he can, because he loves the few things that grow when he can see them, because it's still too early for them and he's curious.

They and branches bend under the wind that carries him and his snowflakes until he reaches a stone circle where they're most bountiful. He lands on a giant mass of grey in the center--another stone, rounder and with less angles than the ones that make up the rest. His frost grows along curls in its surface, and he's so abosorbed in watching that, he doesn't notice the girl until she's right in front of him.

She's young, only about eight, he judges. He can tell most at a glance, he's been chasing children around for centuries now. Her hair is the color of his, though it sweeps to the ground, and her eyes are a forest green. Her clothes are rags, and he wonders if he should blow a chill wind towards her so she'd run away home. But maybe she doesn't have one. He's seen homeless kids huddled in streets, and all he could do was redirect the cold to somewhere else.

She's observing the snow drifiting down onto the tiny flowers, folding her arms over her chest. It's quiet, and it doesn't occur to him that she isn't normal until her oddly dark eyebrows are colored white as the rest of her.

He leaps down beside her, and she whirls towards him.

Jack Frost stares as her gaze holds his.

His voice wavers as he tries--

"Can you see me?"

Her eyes narrow and search his face--and she's looking at him. Actually looking at him.

"Yes."

Faint sunlight filters down through a handful of clouds, illuminating the snow like a thousand shards of glass and he doesn't know what to do. She steps towards him, and he reflexively tries to dodge because everyone always goes through him only to slam into the stone he'd jumped off of. He breathes in deep with pain, and suddenly she's touching him, jabbing her finger into his chest, and it hurts but not as bad as it going through.

"Who are you, and what're you doing in my forest?"

"Jack Frost. I'm Jack Frost--I bring the snow--I--you don't--how can you see me?" His voice cracks over and over, and then he starts laughing and sobbing and slides down the icy stone until he's looking up to see the girl's face change from annoyed to worried.

"Jack Frost." Her hands are suddenly in his hair, carding through the strands, and he stills."You're a winter spirit, then. I'm the protector of this forest, and you'd better make this winter a gentle one."

He reaches up to touch the oddly strong but gentle hands and agrees.

After, she nods and wanders off--and he nearly regrets the agreement, but she doesn't dissuade him when she follows. She shows him the snowdrops and foxes' dens, the fallen antlers of bucks and the moss that survives despite his snow, and he listens hard. He doesn't want to lose this.

\--

Jack thinks she's a forest spirit.

Her name is Aisling. It means 'dream'.

He wonders if the Sandman knows her, and eventually he asks if she recognizes the one behind the sand that filters down into a place called Kells.

She shakes her head. "You're the only one I know."

Something strange washes through him--a mix of joy that he's really someone to her, and horror that she's just as alone.

\--

He has Winter to spread, but he almost always comes back to her as much as he returns to his lake.

\--

She makes him a crown of branches and snowdrops, and he never takes it off. The petals always bloom and the leaves never fall, though his frost does not leave them untouched. It doesn't really fit him, but he always leaves it on.

\--

"I can take you to where I stay," he says hopefully. "It's far, over the sea, but it's--the people there are wonderful."

Her eyes harden. "I don't want to see people. I'm fine," she snarls, and then she's gone.

He calls and calls, but it takes three more visits until she shows herself again.

\--

She isn't like him. She can be seen, but she hides.

"I only show myself to the worthy," she says in a haughty voice, then laughs. After, though, her eyes lose their focus and she puts her hands against her mouth.

"There are few I want to know. I had a friend a long time ago. His name was Brendan." Aisling smiles, but it isn't filled with her usual glee at showing off her forest. It's a tiny thing, a cracked thing. "He was human," she says.

 _He died,_ Jack hears.

Her hand finds his, and it's tiny in comparison. His coldness envelops her heat.

"You aren't, though," she says.

_You'll live._


End file.
